“Let me go, Hallett, please,” I whispered.
“Yes; go, Antony; it is better that you should not be here when Linny comes back. Good-night—good-night.”
I hurried downstairs, and let myself out, feeling miserable with the trouble I had seen, and I was just crossing Queen Square when I saw Linny coming in the opposite direction.
She caught sight of me on the instant and spoke.
“Where did you leave Stephen?” she said hastily; and I saw that she was flushed and panting with haste.
“With Mrs Hallett,” I said.
“Was he scolding because I was out?”
“Yes.”
She gave her head a hasty toss and turned away, looking prettier than ever, I thought, but I fancied, as we stood beneath a lamp, that she turned pale.
Before she had gone half-a-dozen steps I was by her side.